Zugzwang
by Jay Hayden
Summary: Zugzwang: a term in chess for when one must move, when any move at all will be bad. After protecting a woman from a drunken rape attempt, Ren Amamiya finds himself ejected from the only home he's ever known and into Tokyo. When Hifumi Togo reveals the truth of the fixed matches, one she discovered all on her own, she finds herself kicked out of Kosei.


**Prelude: Check**

Ren's eyes widened with shock as he's roughly shoved back against the police car a smug grin on the drunken man's face, red and blue lights flashing behind the teen. He didn't know what he'd expected when he cut in to save the woman, but it wasn't _this_. Being treated like he was the criminal hadn't crossed his mind nor had the woman immediately siding with the bastard who'd attempted to rape her. _No good deed goes unpunished,_ he thought distantly as the cuffs cut into his wrists and he's shoved roughly into the vehicle. The rest of that night, of the next week is a blur.

"How dare you mess up the reputation of our family?" one of his parents demands. He doesn't recall which. The blur of those days makes faces indistinct and identities hard to hold. Both have been yelling so much in the haze of the past few days and the yells all amount to the same thing, _You're a failure. A disgrace. You should've kept your head down and your mouth shut._

The trial is a joke, albeit not a very funny one. The woman he tried to help is called as witness and talks about his random, unprovoked assault on the drunken man. Ren wants to shout, call her a liar, say something, _anything_ in his own defense but finds himself lacking the energy. People he's seen in town his whole life but never really known talk about past "violent tendencies" they've observed. The stories they share are just that, tales of fluff. Until now he'd kept his head low being the quietly helpful young man his parents had trained him to be. No one comes to talk about the good things he's done. He's sentenced to a year's probation. His school won't take him for the next term he's told and nowhere local is willing to take a delinquent. His parents make calls to multiple places they could ship him off to while he keeps his mouth shut and does his best to avoid tears. He's not even sure _why_ he feels like crying at this point. Sixteen years have proven his family shelters, clothes, and feeds him out of obligation and the intention to maintain good standing. That it's those reasons he even exists in this world. The tears born from their abandonment dried up years ago. _Maybe_ , Ren thinks as he stares at the hollow eyes of his hollow in the mirror. Maybe it's because there's no options left. I can't scream, I can't hide, I can't deny. I'm heading towards nothing. His parents inform him he'll be heading for Tokyo and attending a place called Shujin Academy and staying with a guy his father's knows through a colleague.

"Be grateful," his mother says. "Now your father and I can continue our work here and you can go to school. Don't waste this opportunity."

"Of course, mother," Ren says, voice mechanical and smile small.

 _Whatever,_ his heart choruses. _Not like it matters. Not like you really care._

He waits for the train and the only company he has are the glasses that were part of a Halloween costume from the Fall before. People said he looked like a particular book character so he used them to play up the look. No one gave him or his costume a second look despite how much effort he'd put into getting the pieces. Sliding them on his face earlier that morning he felt like he was gazing at a stranger, not the young man slammed against a cop car, his eyes themselves blurred by the opaque lenses. _Perfect,_ Ren thinks. _I don't wanna look like I'd do anyone harm._

Hifumi's heart is already broken when she concedes a match for the first time, before the match is even begun. Murmuring a quiet apology to her pieces and to her father she announces that she is conceding the match. Then in a louder voice, "I need this to be known, many of my matches were rigged in my favor by my mother. I had no idea at the time. I apologize to the players my mother's actions have hurt. And I apologize to the Ladies' Professional Shogi Association as well. I will of course give up my membership as it was undeserved." She's breaking down as her mother roughly comes in and pulls her out of the revenue.

Hifumi tries to wrench herself out of her mother's grip but finds she can't. Her mother's grip on her arms is far, _far_ too tight. The grip hurts but it's nothing compared to the ache in Hifumi's heart. She found the files in her mother's drawer while looking for an envelope to send a letter to her father. In spite of the fact she still visits him, the letters were a way for them to hear each other even when they weren't around, as if they still lived under the same roof. As she'd read the files Hifumi's eyes grew wider and wider, a trembling overtaking her entire body. Rage, fear, despair... What emotion was there to name the feeling that made the young woman shake as her world crashed in on her, just as it had with her father's collapse? Possibly all three... Her mother slaps her across the face, jolting her back to the present.

"Do you _know_ what you've just done?" Mitsuyo Togo hisses. "You've ruined your reputation. _My_ reputation!" Her mother's eyes look like black ice: slim, cold, and without an ounce of light. "You are _my_ daughter. You _belong_ to me. You'll have to do _lots_ more photo shoots now, to help make ends meet. This is what happens when _children_ defy their parents."

Hifumi doesn't look at her mother. Even if she has to do more of the god awful photo shoots, she knows she did the right thing. She heads for her room looking over the shogi board her father had given her. When she calls him to tell him what happened he says he's proud.

They call her to Kosei the day after her live confession, to meet the headmaster in his office. He tries to be kind about it but it still adds up the same. She won't be coming back Kosei in a few weeks. He gives her the name of the school she'll be transferred too, Shujin Academy. Somewhere in her heart, a stroke of fear worms it's way in. She doesn't know why it is and dismisses it. When she gets home she gives a cursory greeting to her mother who only reminds her of her upcoming photo shoot. Hifumi shoves her shogi board into her closet. _I don't need this anymore,_ she thinks to herself.


End file.
